Sprout damaged or other unsound grain can cause significant expense if permitted to be mixed with sound grain or when used in milled products. In both cases, corrective action must be taken to bring the grain or products within compliance of FDA requirements.
Sprout damage occurs during harvest as a result of rain or excess moisture. This moisture enhances the production of an enzyme in grain called alpha amylase. This enzyme reduces the bonding capability of the grain, which in turn reduces the viscosity. The lower the viscosity, the lower the quality of grain.
There are various prior art systems on the market which check for sprout damage. However, such systems suffer a number of problems. First, prior art systems typically require the use of laboratory personnel and require a large amount of manual testing procedures. The intensive use of personnel makes prior art systems quite expensive, and thus are only infrequently used to test for sprout damage.